The C subway stop of Franklin at the edge of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant seems far removed from the bustling Union Square subway stop in Manhattan where I started. Gone are the musicians giving passengers a spring in their step. Gone are the business professionals in tailored attire speeding across the platform to their next meeting and gone are the tourists unfolding maps, taking photos, and drinking bottled water. In fact, there isn’t much of anything except for a touch of bleakness.

Out on Fulton Street it’s not much different - a few more people, the clatter of disjointed traffic, and, like many places in the city, perpetual sirens in the distance. This is not a neighborhood where healthy food has ever been in abundance or easily accessible to the residents. The term ‘food desert’ would describe these hard tense streets and barren shop lots that depict the challenges people face daily to eat well. For most the only options are deep fried meals at jaded, unmaintained fast food outlets or sugar and salt driven packaged snacks from corner ‘supermarkets’ which are anything but super. For some, it may be nothing at all. But things are changing.

The food movement has gained such momentum that it’s no longer defined by neighborhood or zip code. It’s penetrating places previously thought so forlorn, they repelled business instead of attracting it. Once the hallmark of upscale trendy districts, health food merchants are now popping up in commercial areas known mostly for blight instead of prosperity. Even more outstanding, demand for cold-pressed juices and organic salads among those who have the least discretionary income and who may have been raised solely on processed foods is growing.

Fuel Juice Bar in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn - Fulton Avenue

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, this is evident just one block away from the metro station where I arrived early in the evening. A bright colorful newly opened juice bar takes up the bottom corner space of a building shop that had been vacant. It offers fresh blended organic juices, vibrant salads, wraps, and nutrient dense desserts. Fuel Juice Bar was the idea of young owner and native Brooklynite, Jorge, who wanted to bring healthy eating to his neighborhood. In stark contrast to the other processed food options on the street, residents can consume food with ingredients such as goji berries, coconut meat, avocado, chia seeds, raw turmeric, and seaweed.

Pico de Gallo Salad at Fuel Juice Bar

Business is not just good for Fuel Juice Bar, but growing steadily. With reasonable prices compared to other parts of the city (and nationally), this health food cafe is creating real access to nutrition and changing eating habits for the better. It’s proximity to the subway station reduces street time to get there and makes it convenient for those walking home. The bright colorful glow from the shop windows in the early evening is more than good lighting, it’s the emanation of a furnace powering health and transformation in a section of Brooklyn that needs it.

Several subway stops away after a line change from the C to the 5, is another juice bar pioneering health in the changing neighborhood of Prospect Lefferts Gardens. On the east side of Prospect Park and bordering the Crown Heights and Brownsville areas, food options for local residents is similar to Bed-Stuy - very limited access to fresh, organic, minimally processed food. House of Juice, located at Rogers Avenue and Parkside Street, offers unique fresh blended juices with ingredients sourced from farmers markets usually out of reach of the local community, but made available in their menu items - ingredients such as Mandarin oranges, Kyoto carrots, sorrel, and hibiscus.

Brewing Kombucha at House of Juice in Brooklyn's Prospect Lefferts Gardens

House of Juice even brews their own kombucha, a probiotic-heavy fermented tea drink, that improves gut health and eventually mental health. Kombucha may not be available in the nearby markets, but the juice bar creates availability for the neighborhood and educates those about the positive effects of the beverage.

House of Juice helps overcome limited access to healthy food

Bringing health to these neighborhoods in Brooklyn, however, has not been easy. The owners of House of Juice did experience tensions after opening a health themed business in that area, but have persisted and now run a program to introduce young children to the flavors and benefits of eating healthy food. By showing that green food and drinks make you feel good, they are changing the neighborhood from the ground up and for the next generation.

Places like Fuel Juice Bar and House Juice have been aided by the migration of younger professionals moving into eastern Brooklyn neighborhoods from Manhattan where rents have become too high to be sustainable. The new residents have brought with them the demand for high quality food. The net result, though, has been greater access for local residents to food that tastes wonderful, supports long term health, and inspires with signs of progress.​After finishing my Pico de Gallo Salad at Fuel Juice Bar, I walked back to the the Franklin subway station feeling great after eating well made, nutritious food. Finding a delicious plant-based meal in Bed-Stuy at affordable prices, and run by local residents, was a treat and gave me reason to come back.